Why is Harold Ford Jr. Being Ignored by his Own Party?

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Two weeks ago Harold Ford Jr. wrote an excellent for Blueprint Magazine about the need for a Primary of Ideas, in which he set forth a NEW Democratic agenda based on Andrew Jackson’s credo “equal opportunity for all, special privilege for none."

A very good start.

In it he acknowledges, “But today, we face a host of challenges that seemed far off or unimaginable 15 years ago -- the spread of Islamist fanaticism, the rise of India and China, the acceleration of climate change. We have different problems to solve, and old problems that demand different answers.”

He calls for (1) Keeping America safe (against the rise of Islamo-fascism), (2) Giving Americans the tools to compete, (3) Hold government accountable for results, (4) Create a new hybrid economy, (5) make America the most pro-family country on earth and (5) end poverty for all who work.

It’s all here;

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/its_time_for_an_ideas_primary.html

Conservative (Blue Dog) Dems are demanding larger role in 110th Congress

With the last election America saw a very hopeful sign, the rise of the Conservative (Blue Dog) Democrat. Now they are demanding a larger role in the newest Congress, claiming the bulk of the credit for the Democrat’s victory last November.

"Republicans “did not lose their seats to liberal Democrats” in November’s elections, said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark. “Republicans lost their seats to Blue Dog Democrats.”

“We’ll have a lot to say about what passes and what doesn’t” when the 110th Congress convenes in January with Democrats in control for the first time in 12 years, said Ross, new communications director for the caucus.

With the addition of nine newly elected freshmen, the Blue Dogs claim 44 members, nearly 20 percent of the incoming Democratic majority. They will be led by Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., and include Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., in line to become the next Agriculture Committee chairman."


http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=167483

The Blue Dogs came into existence in 1994 after Republicans swept many of the long-entrenched Liberal Democrats from power.

The “Blue Dogs” tend to be social conservatives on such issues as abortion, but their biggest issue is fiscal discipline - balancing the budget and reducing the federal debt.

Leaders from both parties have been courting their vote in the months prior to the Democratic takeover of Congress. Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, a California liberal, has promised to make “paygo,” a Blue Dog-backed principle that any new spending be paid for with cuts in other programs or new revenues, one of her first legislative goals.

Rep. Mike Pence (D-IND, pictured above) said, “We also will attempt to restart the old GOP-Boll Weevil coalition that proved so successful in the 1980s to advance President Reagan’s revolution.” Adding, “There are Blue Dog Democrats that want to balance the budget, address our nation’s abounding debt, strengthen Social Security and protect life and marriage. Our minority will look for opportunities to work with them when there is agreement.”


This is a huge opportunity for the Democratic Party to see the writing on the wall and move Right, back toward the center and away from the Gore-Moore-Sheehan-Kucinich axis that has compromised that Party’s credibility in recent years.